Treadmill run: going well doing the old 5.1-5.8 (through 40 minutes) and kicked it to 6.1-6.3 just at 42:30 (4 miles) when my fist hit the “stop button”. That lead to cursing ..still jogged .12 to make SURE I was at 4 then I went straight to the track (very little rest; like at a street crossing) and did 1 mile (8 laps in the middle lane). 4:26/4:26 for 8:52. I wish I could say it was easy, but it was tough.

8:52.. then I remembered this: (Indianapolis Marathon, 2000)

102 18/61 Ollie Nanyes 41 M Peoria IL 3:38:12 8:20

Oh f**k me dead. I know…18 years ago.

Then I walked 2 more miles.

Last night, I caught a nice ball game; it ended 4-0 Chiefs. The pitchers controlled things for most of it and the first 6 innings took just over an hour. But in one case, a Chief batter saw 17 pitches before he drew a walk..2 strikes, 4 balls and 11 foul balls! It was hilarious. The starter threw a complete game, struck out 6, allowed 8 scattered hits and walked no one. The Lumberking closer threw well too; hitting 95 mph with some fast balls (former Illinois pitcher)

Jake Dahlberg pitches a complete game shut-out with 6 strike outs and 0 walks. Davis, Gorman, and Rodriguez all drive in runs pic.twitter.com/j0g1ICet9C

I finished my 4’th 20 mile walk in this build up (2 more planned) and I am a bit ahead of where I was last year, both in number of 20’s AND in heat conditioning. I am handling heat relatively well, I think. But I don’t have the hard half marathons though.

Today I changed up the course a bit: when I got to the bottom of Glen Oak park I went up and around the long way, along Prospect and then down through Springdale (HUGE great Dane..on a leash, thank god/goddesses). Then on Bishop hill, I turned left and went around Grandview. Then when I was about to take it home, I backtracked and did the 5K course on the bikepath (out and back) (47:34, 15:20 pace) and I was very, well, whiny. I wasn’t hurting or anything; I was disgusted at my lack of speed.

Then I took it home; 14:44 for the “fast mile”, 58:46 for the final 4 to get to 19.9 in 5:06:37, then a very lackadaisical final 0.4 to ensure I got over 20..and there I saw some sort of football drill session on the Bradley Quad.

5:13:29 for 20.3; it was 86 F with 54 percent humidity when I finished (67 F with 97 percent when I started).

15:26 pace.

Later: I walked home from Dozer to add 2 more (dropped off after Indian buffet)

It was a good game; very quick. For the first 7.5 innings, the pitchers dominated. It was 1-1, both runs off of solo home runs. The Chiefs had 8 hits, but they were scattered. Their prize “just out of high school” rookie got 2 hits..had a bit of trouble with the glove. Still…when you think “he was in high school last year” you can see the talent…exceptional.

In the bottom of the 8’th, the Chiefs got a single, sacrifice bunt, and a RBI single (by the rookie) which provided the winning margin. Note: the home run was by the burly rookie who was playing for TCU earlier this year. YOUTH.

I am nearing the end of summer break and am going over the diagrams for a paper that I’ll be submitting in 3 week’s time. This means: finishing research, starting on my next project, preparing for class, taking a look at search committee stuff, etc.

Though I have been paying attention to politics, I find much of the discussion to be depressing.

On one hand, the Republicans have gotten their people, including those conservatives that do not like Trump, to trust only conservative media sources (e. g., Fox News). So many really believe, say, that Trump is doing better than any past POTUS over the past 40 years (in terms of GDP growth) ..and this is based on, well, one strong quarter of growth being extrapolated. Of course, the growth might well have been due to businesses preparing for the trade wars and a one-time bump.

But try getting them to even read a graph, much less accept that it is a true one.

But being “sure” is not limited to “their team.” I know that issues are complicated and have many facets to them. Nevertheless, so many, including those who vote the way that I do, are just so “SURE” of things.
When one wants to “speak the truth” one has to actually KNOW “the truth” and few are experts on ANYTHING much less experts on everything.

I just find it astonishing that I have so many doubts about things that I’ve thought hard about, and so many others appear to have no doubts at all.

Sports: I still am in “baseball” mode but I just made my annual purchase of football magazines. I’ll be coming up with predictions soon and, of course, I plan to make a few games. I have season tickets for Illinois but hope to make a few Illinois State games, and perhaps a couple of Bears and 3-4 Colts games.

I did read about Texas football getting ready to make a 175 million dollar renovation to their football stadium. Yes, no tuition funds or tax payer funds will be used..and yes, the University of Texas has that kind of fund raising power. This means that, well…the kind of win/loss records we have seen over the past 5 years is unacceptable: 8-5, 6-7, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6 = 31-32. Contrast that with, say, Iowa: 8-5, 7-6, 12-2, 8-5, 8-5 = 43-23.

But doesn’t Texas have more money, a bigger stadium, bigger following and bigger drawing power than Iowa? Well, it might just be that the money might actually be counter productive at times. After all, big donors EXPECT to have some say in the program right? But said donors don’t necessarily know all that much about football. Big money can be a two edged sword.

Well, more on football later.

And there is still quite a bit of baseball to play and, who knows..perhaps some Cornbelter playoff ball too?

Today: my legs felt heavy and yes, I ate nachos last night at the game (for my dinner) so my 5.1/5.2 warm up (10 minutes) did not get me ready to crank in to 6.7, so I dropped back and continued 5.3-5.4-5.5-5.6-5.7-5.8 to 40 minutes. Then 6.1 to 4 miles (43:28) then 6.7-6.8-6.9 (6.7 to 4.5, then every .25) and finished in 52:17..then 1 mile cool down walk.

Funny how I could not sustain 6.7 after 10 minutes of running but could after 40 minutes of running.

Oh, running is rougher than it once was..mostly because my body has changed.

But hey, even Frank Shorter (1972 gold medalist, 1976 silver medalist in the Olympic marathon) is doing 11 minute miles these days. We all get old.

Last night, I went to yoga and then a Chiefs game. I picked it up after the 3’rd inning where the Chiefs were down 2-0. They managed 1 run (single, then later a sacrifice fly) but still trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the 9’th. But 3 singles got the job done.

3-2 to win this 3 game series vs. Quad Cities, the first half champions.

The Chiefs win the game and the series on a walk-off single from Rayder Ascanio. Davis and Benson claim the other 2 RBI that brought the team from behind to win it in the 9th pic.twitter.com/d11IdMddgp

You are playing the first half division champions (you are the wild card). You make 5 errors in the first 5 innings and fall behind 5-1. You probably aren’t going to win…emphasis on “probably”.

Because..well, here are the highlights:

The Chiefs trailed 5-1 after the top of the 4’th and were making errors all over the place (misplayed ground balls, wild throws) But in the bottom of the fifth, a HUGE solo home run (409 feet) seemed to steady things, and it stayed at 5-2 until the bottom of the 7’th, which saw the Chiefs draw to within 1, and then BOOM, a monster shot that went over the second white fence in the berm put the Chiefs up 8-5!

The Bandits weren’t done though. Their burly third basemen, who was twice hit by pitches, crushed a shot into left field and almost put it completely out of the park. That made it 8-7 with 1 out…but a fly and a strike out ended the game.

We are having a run of hot (for us) days. Today’s 9 mile walk was done in 80 F, 70 percent humidity conditions; it was a decent clip though. I didn’t bother to time; I did West Peoria plus a couple of loops of lower Bradley Plus a mini loop plus the stretch home.

Warmth can play havoc with power plants. Here is the idea: (very roughly): typically water is heated to become steam. The steam blows over the turbine blades and exits and then, ideally, is condensed when it flows over pipes with cool water in them. IF the water in the condensing pipes is too warm, the steam doesn’t condense as easily and the pressure in the condenser is higher; that hurts the efficiency. One wants a greater pressure difference between the steam inlet to the turbine and the exhaust. Warmer condensing water makes for a lesser drop in pressure across the turbine.

So, warmer water to use for condensing purposes causes problems (this is true for ships in tropical water).

I can get the frustration. Much of what I see on Twitter is people yelling at each other, sometimes with or without name calling. And yes, people are often horribly misinformed though they appear to *think* that they are informed. I’ve gotten to where I just block; the irritation is not worth it.

I liked the old “blog networks” better as you had more “room” to explain yourself.

But on Twitter, it all too often devolves into something like this:

“hmm, is it fair to fire the football coach for hiring that assistant? How was he to actually KNOW that he was a wife beater?”

“Oh, so you think wife beating is ok then? So typical of a misogynist”.

Etc.

The good thing is that Twitter is a good source for articles and the like.

Aside: after yoga on Wednesday, my teacher and I went to a Chiefs game and caught the final 7 innings of a 4-3 game. Homer, the mascot dog, was serving a 1 game suspension. We caught a couple of the home runs.

Peoria and Wisconsin each had a home run and a sacrifice RBI to leave the game tied at the end of the 9th. A wild pitch in the bottom of the 10th was enough for the Distillers to claim the win pic.twitter.com/9ppxnis69U

Now this was a game where it being minor league mattered. The Timberrattlers started a major league pitcher (Brewers) who went for about 2.5 innings and was throwing “I am glad that I am not trying to hit that” stuff. He struck out 4 and retired the first 7 batters he faced..best “contact” was a fly out. But he had his set number of pitches as was replaced …by a reliever who promptly gave up the tying run (Wisconsin hit a home run in the 3’d). Wisconsin took the lead in the 4’th thanks to a single, wild pitch and throwing error and sacrifice fly.

It took the Chiefs and inning to get it back. (home run). And so it went..though the Chiefs did blow one chance when a runner tried for home off of a shallow hit.

In the 10’th each team started their inning with a runner at second. In the case of the Chiefs: the runner was moved to 3’rd on a bunt and a walk loaded the bases. Wisconsin went to a 5 man shifted infield but a wild pitch allowed the winning run to score.

I walked to the gym to do a few treadmill miles..only to find the upper level in disarray. Evidently they thought it was good time to move all of the equipment, including the treadmills. Figures…couldn’t do it when the gym was closed, I guess (eyeroll).

So I shuffled 5.1 outside on my hilly course and cut the grass; got some heat conditioning out of it. I should be good to go for a 20+ this Saturday.

Body weight: 194.6 before running. Still too heavy but I am making progress. I want to be in the 180’s again.

Last night: yoga then a ball game with my teacher.

The Chiefs become the Distillers for this throwback series, and both Davis and Gonzalez drive in multiple runs to take the win.https://t.co/uG5MmrAxjN

This was a crazy game. We missed the first 3 innings but caught the Timberrattlers in the 4’th; they got a 3 run home run just inside the foul pole to take a 3-1 lead. But Peoria responded with a barrage to regain the lead 5-3 and went on to win 7-5; the Chiefs…er…Distillers got 15 hits!

And the Chiefs won a fine pitcher’s duel 2-1; the first runner got on base when the batter alertly swung on a wild pitch for strike 3 and got to first; a single got him to 3’rd and a sacrifice fly brought him in.

The heat caused the fans to drop like flies; this was the 7’th inning stretch and even Barbara had gone home.

7th inning stretch in Peoria (A). Many fans have left an excellent 2-1 ball game. I wonder if the hot summer is keeping in person attendance down. PS. Wife left; I am walking home! 😂 @EmptySeatsPicspic.twitter.com/9H609c38hK

Baseball commentary I’ve read that actual attendance at games is down. My guess: our part of the country had a frigid “spring” that was really an extended winter followed by a hot, humid summer. This season has not been a pleasant one to be outside (for the most part). Will this be the norm for future years?

Now the walk home: featured Peoria’s perpetually “under construction” streets.

About Blueollie

To keep track of my sports activities. I rarely train for anything anymore; mostly I just do workouts of the following types: running, walking, weight lifting and swimming. My best ultra accomplishment was walking 101 miles in 24 hours in 2004. These days, I walk a marathon every once in a while (5:50 to 7 hours) There was a time when I could run a sub 40 minute 10K (did that once), but that was another lifetime ago; these a days 2427-282525:50-27:45 28-31 minutes for a 5K would be more like it. I also have an off and on interest in yoga and in weight training. My lifetime PB in the bench is 310; currently I do sets of 4-5 with 190 185.

Best this year has been 200 (relatively easy).

To discuss the football, basketball or baseball game I’ve been to. Since 2011, I started to attend live football games regularly (University of Illinois, sometimes Illinois State, sometimes either the Colts or Bears of the NFL…don’t get me started on the Rams) ; I’ve attended Bradley Basketball games (men and women) for some time. In the past 3 years, I started to watch live baseball again (mostly the Peoria Chiefs (low A affiliate of the Cardinals) and Bradley University; sometimes the Normal Cornbelters (Frontier League; similar to low A level ball).

From time to time, I post what I am thinking about mathematically

I often post links to science articles, especially articles about cosmology and evolution.

I am very sympathetic to the “new atheist” movement, though some might consider me to be an agnostic. I reject any notion of a deity that interferes with physical events, but remain agnostic to the idea that there might be something “grand and wonderful” (Dawkins’ phrase) outside of our current spacetime continuum.

I am a liberal Democrat who thinks that the current social atmosphere is tilted way too far toward the interests of big business, and I reject the idea that a “free market” cures all ills, though pure socialism doesn’t work either. I am also a believer in the freedom of speech, including speech that I might not like. Also, I’ve been involved (to a moderate degree) with political campaigns, ranging from City Council races up to Presidential races.

I like to post photos of trips and vacations.

I like women in spandex. 🙂

The 2016 election: I voted for Hillary Clinton and was dismayed that she lost the Electoral College, though I take a bit of comfort that a plurality of voters preferred her (by just over 2 percentage points!)

I see Donald Trump as an unqualified amateur who lacks the humility and deportment to be an effective president; I sure hope the time proves me wrong. It does not appear that I am wrong though (as of June, 2018) I’ve been wrong before (e. g. my election prediction) and will be wrong again. I hope this is one of those times.